My Home Was Robbed! (1 Viewer)

About a week ago, maybe two weeks I came home to find my back door open and my cats outside. They are inside cats so I was alarmed but they came right in. I looked around and found about 8 DVS missing. They were John Wayne movies and my Mission Hill set. Odd selections since there were about 2,000 DVDs to choose from.

Well I had the bright idea to put my Canon XL1s up facing the back door as a security camera on its tripod. It is a big camera and looks kind of menacing so I thought that they would probably see it and run.

Today I came home to find my sliding back glass door broken out and my camera gone with nothing but a huge pile of glass left.

My insurance company is sending an adjuster, hopefully tomorrow to start repairs and get this taken care of. I plan on visiting the pawn shops tomorrow in search of the camera but I'm not hopeful.

That's why I own a dog and a beware of dog sign, it doesn't matter if the dog is friendly if it barks.

I'm in a good neighborhood. In the 10 years I've lived here there hasn't even been the slightest bit of trouble.

I have found some of my stolen DVDs in a pawn shop but there isn't much I can do about it.

The police get a report from the pawn shops about what they buy so maybe they will be cross referenced.

In the UK we have a specialist police officer called a crime prevention officer. S/he will be only too glad to come round to your house and offer advice on crime prevention. I was burgled (as it happens by the son of my heighbours who wanted drug money, but that's another story) and I got the crime prevention guy to give me (very useful) advice.

Have you got the same sort of thing in the USA?

Incidentally, this sounds like an urban legend, but I really have met someone this happened to (and knowing the guy well, I could believe it). His apartment got burgled and various small items (watch, jewellery, etc) were stolen. The thieves had also obviously gone through his CD collection - and decided there was nothing worth stealing. I think this bothered him more than what he'd lost in the robbery.

I feel for you Blu. My apt. was broken into and robbed on Christmas Day. They took my dvd player, receiver, vcr and laserdisc player. I was most heartsick about the laserdisc player as they are so hard to replace (I now have a Marantz). They did trash the entire apt., throwing everything from the closet on the floor and emptied every drawer, but they didn't take gold/jewelry or other valuables. The only other items missing in addition to the electronics was a $3 zippo lighter and out of my 600+ dvd's only Janet Jackson was taken. Boy was I insulted--a crackhead thinks my taste in movies sucks!

I have a great security system:

Outer perimeter: 2ea 75lb Dalmatians, owner friendly and stranger dangerous! Seriously

Inner perimeter:
Cold Steel. Various sizes, up to 9mm

Last resort:
Plenty of Homeowner's insurance.

The people I bought my house from were thoughtful enough to in put steel bars on all the windows and security doors.

The dirtbags(s) who robbed Blu may be very familiar with life in a "residence" that has such an arrangement.

Indeed they might be, hopefully if not before then soon!

I’m so sorry Blu, I don’t know about you but when these personal invasions take place it stirs up a lot of primitive emotion. My home was robbed (once) years ago…they took electronics/jewelry and tossed things around as they were scavenging. Our instinct was to wash comforters,sheets,pillows and clothes Cloroxing any surface they might have touched. It was a visceral sensation to seeing our mattress's shoved off bed frames and personal dresser drawers open and tossed.

I’m having a strong reaction right now to having been with my Mother when she was robbed a couple of weeks ago. ……it truly changes your perspective for awhile. I am capable of analytically stepping back to study my emotions when they are highly engaged, but it is very difficult not to have a desire to take someaction.

Right now, even though I am contemplating, gun courses, the purchase of a weapon balanced to my hand and permit to carry, I am waiting some months in an attempt to weigh calmly the responsibility this entails.

Mary, weigh carefully the decision to carry a gun. If you are robbed and DO have time to pull your gun, can you really pull the trigger and take someone's life. You may say yes now based on feelings from just having the experience but if it came down to it, could you? If not then many times the victim's gun is used against them. I can imagine it sucks to be robbed but it sucks worse to be dead.
Concealed carry permits are ok for when you are walking around the city but as soon as you enter a public place, such as a bar, it is illegal. I had a permit for years but ended up letting it expire.

Agreed, if you decide to pull out the gun shoot towards center of mass (body shot, not head or knee caps since they are very small targets and pivot from other joints making it hard to read and predict) and shoot to kill (don't try to maim them, you don't know what they may be pumped up on or what weapons they have). If you don't think you can shoot to kill then get mace (one that does a stream to minimize spray back from wind), stun gun, taser, or even a decible alarm (good for public, literally it's a cord attached to a pin that's battery operated and produces an annoying sound at about 115db). Remember if you don't carry something you may have to dodge, grovel, beg, or whatever you think may be necessary to survive for about 2-3 minutes while waiting for police to arrive after you call 911 (e911 has not been implemented on all mobile networks yet as well) and most likely won't show if you don't have a means to call them during an incident. I would also recommend a sign on your property as well (I have a "beware of dog" and "trespassers will be shot" type of signs at my home).

Very good suggestions however when you aren't home I do believe that the signs and an alarm would be best suited for me right now.

An audible alarm would be best. My house is pretty secure with the exception to my back door which is glass and is easily broken.

As it now turns out the personal property insurance I thought I had I may not have. I may not be able to have my camera replaced now.

It was on my original policy but every renewal afterwards it wasn't. I never told them to cancel it and there was nothing in my file that told them to cancel it. My agent now (the first two were fired) told me that she believes I should still have it since no one told them to cancel it and it just doesn't cancel itself.

I've had this policy since '95 and believe that they should pay up. I did tell my agent that I will be getting more than enough coverage now.

That sucks Blu. Luckily I've never had my house robbed. It must be a really weird and aggrevating experience.

I live in a development thats full of cops and firemen and a FBI agent. Most of my neighbors dont even lock their doors!

I really miss having a dog, but I got my dads cat and I dont want to go thru the trouble of retraining a dog. Now that my housework is about done,Im getting a ADT system.

I cant even think about being robbed. I have stuff I couldnt replace (favorites being a $2700 custom made bass and a frazetta conan statue - only 200 in the world)

Sorry to hear about your misfortunes guys. It must be a terrible feeling. If I ever caught someone in my house- forgetaboutit.

this happened a long time ago to us.....

we came home one night from dinner and as my husband opened the front door I noticed our tv had been shoved out into the middle of the living room. We heard a noise and realized that whoever broke in was still in the house. My husband had me phone 911 while he chased after them. They got a radio, our VCR, a few cd's and a watch. We actually saw them and they jumped out the back window into a white truck that was parked just on the side of our house.

They got away and my husband was pissed. We moved the next day. It wasn't the greatest area.

Well my camera has been recovered by a bounty hunter friend of mine!

It was sold to a junk shop for a hundred dollars two days ago.

It is now back in my living room all safe and sound!

The thief is a guy who lives a block North of me. He is unaware that I now know that it was him and that the shop owner has identified him as the person who stole my stuff.

A happy ending for me and very soon a very unhappy ending for this individual as he will soon be spending his evenings in jail instead of robbing people.

Should go and clean his place out while the police take him to the station.